Hear a General, Hug a Sheik: Congress Visits Iraq
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/middleeast/26visits.html?ex=1345780800&en=d2f89d68735faae3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss<<snip>>
Ms. Schakowsky, for example, came away from the Petraeus lunch convinced more than ever that “the surge is a failure.” Representative Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican, took the opposite view; he’s now “leaning in the direction” of giving the buildup more time.
In Baghdad on Saturday, just hours after his own meeting with General Petraeus, James P. Moran, a Virginia Democrat and senior member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, also said he was impressed with the presentation. “Based on the outline,” Mr. Moran said, “I just don’t see Congress pulling up stakes.”
The Pentagon is pleased and a senior White House official called the trips “a net plus.” And at least one Democrat, Representative Brian Baird of Washington, an early opponent of the war, has changed his mind.
Mr. Baird was especially struck by his trip to Yusufiya, a farm town about 15 miles south of Baghdad in an area long dominated by Sunni insurgents. He met the mayor, visited a market and chatted with two sheiks, a Sunni and a Shiite, who “embraced us in front of everybody out on the street,” he said.
“That’s real progress,” Mr. Baird said, though he confessed he did not tell his wife about the region’s nickname, the triangle of death, and said the whole scene was a little surreal. “You have your flak jacket on, and your Kevlar helmet and you’re surrounded by guys with automatic weapons as you’re standing there, talking to the mayor. And you realize there’s a dusty old car next to you and you’re saying, ‘God, I hope that doesn’t blow up.’
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
